What we're looking at
Arizona House Democrats claimed in a news release that "tea party" legislators and Gov. Jan Brewer voted to raise income taxes on middle-class Arizonans and simultaneously cut taxes for residents earning $100,000 or more.

The comment
"Tea party legislators and Gov. Jan Brewer have … voted to raise income taxes on middle-class Arizona families while cutting taxes for those earning more than $100,000 a year."

The forum
A news release posted Jan. 9, 2012, on the Arizona House Democrats’ website.

Analysis
Sarah Muench, communications director for the Arizona House Democrats, said in an e-mail that the claim referred specifically to House Bill 2636, also known as the flat-tax bill.

The House of Representatives, dominated by Republicans, voted in March to pass HB 2636, which would have set a flat income- tax rate for all income levels in the state. The bill passed along party lines, with all 40 Republican members of the House voting yes.

However, the bill was ultimately held in the Senate and failed to become law.

It is unclear how many of the lawmakers affiliated themselves with the tea party at the time, however, many identify themselves with the movement.

Had the bill passed, a 2.13 percent flat income tax for all brackets would have been phased in, replacing the state’s progressive tax rate.

According to a Joint Legislative Budget Committee report, the bill would have lowered tax rates for those making more than $100,000 per year while raising rates for anyone making less than that. The bill would have raised taxes for 88 percent of Arizonans while lowering them for the remaining 12 percent, according to the JLBC.

The governor, however, did not "vote" on the bill -- she never had the opportunity to sign or veto it. A flat-tax proposal was included as part of budget negotiations in 2009, but that package also failed to make it to her desk.

Bottom line: Republican members of the House voted to pass legislation that would have raised income taxes for many Arizonans while lowering them for those making more than $100,000, but the bill was held in the Senate. The only way the governor could have "voted" on the bill would have been to sign or veto it, which never occurred, because it never reached her desk.

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AZ Fact Check is a service of The Arizona Republic, 12 News and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. It is not affiliated with www.FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.